Many premium automotive vehicles with front wheel drive have air strut suspensions on their front corners. An air strut is basically a hydraulic shock absorber that has an air spring mounted in parallel. A hydraulic cylinder of the shock absorber has a bottom end configured for connection with a suspension component of the vehicle wheel. A piston rod extends vertically upward out of a top end of the shock absorber hydraulic cylinder. A top end of the piston rod of the hydraulic shock absorber is connected with an elastomeric bushing.
The top end of the hydraulic cylinder of the shock absorber is connected with a lower end of an air spring bellows. An upper end of the bellows is connected with a top cap. An upper end of the top cap has an outer radial flange for connection with the vehicle body. The top cap has a lower radially inward directed flange with a central opening that the piston rod extends through. The aforementioned bushing rests on top of the top cap lower flange. To cover the bushing and to seal the air spring formed by air spring bellows, there is provided a closure cover. Typically the closure cover is held in place in the top cap by a steel washer which is secured in position by a locking ring. The locking ring is fitted within a groove on an inner diameter of the top cap. To prevent moisture from the environment from damaging the locking ring the aforementioned washer is typically covered with a rubber boot. To save weight, often the top cap or the closure member is fabricated from aluminum. Since the top cap, closure member, and locking ring (typically fabricated from steel) are often fabricated from dissimilar metallic materials, relatively expensive terostat coatings may be required to prevent galvanic corrosion. It is desirable to provide an automotive air strut with a closure member configuration that does not require expensive coatings to prevent galvanic corrosion. It is desirable to provide an automotive air strut with a closure member configuration that does not require a rubber boot. It is desirable to provide an automotive air strut with a twist lock connected closure member. It is desirable to provide an automotive air strut that reduces the number of required parts and is simpler than those previously provided.